


Gunpowder Burns and Tungsten Rings

by Luffles424



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Mr & Mrs Smith AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-03-02 22:40:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2828594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luffles424/pseuds/Luffles424
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joel’s job is pretty simple; he kills people for money. When he meets a man after a botched job he doesn’t think about building a life with him until it happens. When his marriage turns bad and things at work and with his life start to not add up, Joel gets a bad feeling about it all. The only question is, who’s setting him up and why?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Meeting

Joel takes a small sip of his drink, listening as cops begin to circulate through the hotel lobby and bar. After Joel’d gotten to the room at the hotel across the street to find his mark already dead, he’d quickly retreated, silently fuming the stolen mark. He’d come back to his hotel and sat at the bar and was able to count to 30 before the first of the cops began to fill the street and trickle into the hotels and shops along the street, looking for anyone who was traveling alone.

Joel clenched his jaw when he saw one of the cops eye him dubiously, mind beginning to work through how to talk around being by himself. A hand presses between his shoulder blades as a body slides up next to him. A muscle in his shoulder twitches in the restrained urge to defend himself, to fight and run. He could get away. It’s easy enough in Puerto Rico, a place with twisting roads full of tourists and venders. Mazes of alleys and more than enough cover, he could flee easily but the person touching him starts talking and they’re very obviously not Puerto Rican, let alone one of their officers.

“Hey, here you are. I thought you meant the bar out by the pool not the inside one. Thought you’d abandoned me babe.” The British man laughs like this was just a silly misunderstanding.

Joel can see that the cop isn’t completely buying it, though it’s not difficult to see why he wouldn’t. Joel is still tense in the strangers relaxed embrace and open features. Well, can’t have that, Joel can sell this better than anyone.

He turns to the man; he’s young but not overly so, probably in his late 20’s or so. He’s attractive, dark blonde hair artfully messy with a light bit of stubble along his jaw and green eyes that shine with delight and mischief. His smile lights up his face beautifully and Joel’s hit with the urge to see how he looks spread out beneath him and moaning.

He tamps that down and beams back at other man. “Oh god. That’s embarrassing, huh? I forgot this hotel had 2 bars. I was thinking about the one we were staying at a few days ago. I’m sorry, I hope you didn’t wait for me long?”

The man’s eyes crinkles as laughs again. “No, not that long at all. Maybe 5 minutes then thought maybe you’d meant this one. Are you ready to head up to the room to change for dinner?”

The cop gives a small huff before he turns to question the other patrons in the bar. Joel watches him for another minute before he turns back to the other man, thinking it best to keep up the rouse for a little longer since they’re both clearly in the country alone. And with the cops looking for just that, it’d be big problems for them, especially if they find the gun tucked into the back of Joel’s jeans. That’s the excuse he’ll use if anyone asks him why he brought this stranger up to him room.

Joel opens the door and the Brit closes it, pressing his ear to it and listening to the cops walking the halls and questioning the other guests. He waits a beat before he introduces himself and the guy smiles and says his name is Gavin.

A half hour later the buzz of police around their floor has died down, but Gavin seems hesitant to leave. So Joel suggests that maybe he should stay a little longer, just to be sure that the cops are gone and that he won’t get in trouble being alone. Gavin gives him a smirk that promises a lot and he delivers on all of them, pressing Joel against the door and kissing him like he’s dying. His hips roll in a tantalizingly slow grind and it’s driving Joel a little insane.

Joel flips them, presses Gavin firmly to the wall, pining his hips. He noses along Gavin’s jaw, nips down his neck and Gavin gasps and arches off the wall as much as he can. Gavin tugs at Joel’s shirt, whines when it doesn’t come off.

“Less clothes… Less clothes right now…” He moans.

And who’s Joel to deny him, so he gets his hands under Gavin’s thighs and hefts him up. Gavin hums delightedly, wraps his legs around Joel’s waist and Joel takes him to the bed. He strips Gavin and pauses to marvel at the new stretches of skin revealed to him.

Gavin is slender, but covered in lean muscle. Joel idly wonders what he does for a living that would give him such a runners body, but then Gavin’s leg twitches and Joel’s drawn back to admiring the sleek lines of his waist and the hair covering Gavin’s chest and leading down to his cock. Joel swallows; Gavin’s cock is thick and uncut, tip peaking out of his foreskin, flushed red and leaking precome and Joel wants to taste, to feel the weight of it on his tongue.

So he indulges, slides back some and pushes Gavin’s thighs apart so he can fit between. He wraps a hand around the base and presses a kiss to the tip before licking up the length. Gavin groans, throws his head back and buries his hands in Joel’s hair. He takes the head into his mouth, tongue running along Gavin’s foreskin before he ducks his head down and takes more of Gavin’s cock in his mouth.

Gavin’s hips twitch like he’s trying to keep from thrusting and Joel runs his free hand up Gavin’s thigh, runs his fingers across his balls then down along his perineum and lightly across his hole. Gavin moans and his hips buck up.

Flailing a hand out, Gavin hits the side table and knocking things down, something shatters on the floor and Joel can’t find it in himself to care when Gavin starts talking. Telling him to get lube, that he needs him in him right now.

Joel sucks hard one last time as he pulls off and rolls off the bed with a well known grace. He grabs lube and condoms from his bag and turns back to be faced with Gavin lazily stroking his own dick, thumb swiping across the head on every upstroke. Joel groans at the picture the younger man is making, tosses the condoms and lube to the bed by Gavin’s head and quickly strips out of his own clothing. He climbs back onto the bed, slots himself between Gavin’s thighs and ruts down. Gavin doesn’t move his hand any further than to wrap around Joel’s cock as well as his own and they both moan at the heat and friction as Gavin strokes them both.

Joel enjoys it for a moment before reaching for the lube and slicking up his fingers, giving them a minute to warm up before reaching down and teasing Gavin’s hole with feather light touches. Gavin keens and arches his back, pressing his hips down in an attempt to get more than just the tip of a finger skirting his rim.

 Gavin growls at him to stop teasing and Joel, well Joel’s never really been one to listen to someone else’s orders. So he takes his time working Gavin open, slow and sweet, until Gavin is writhing and incoherent, babble only mixed with the occasional curse or plea or ‘Joel’. When Gavin’s near tears, he pulls his fingers out and Gavin whines at the loss. Running a soothing hand along Gavin’s side, Joel shushes him and grabs a condom to roll on then slicks himself up with more lube. Joel pushes Gavin’s thighs a little further apart and lines himself up.

The head slides in easily and Gavin convulses around him as he moans brokenly. Joel pushes in slow, thinks about how he’s pretty sure he’ll be ruined for anyone else after this experience. Gavin is tight and hot around him when he finally bottoms out, hips flush to his ass and when he glances up from where they’re joined, sees Gavin’s glazed eyes watching him and looking like he feels the same as Joel. Gavin reaches out, pulls him down for a sloppy kiss.

“Move, lord please start moving or I’ll do it myself.” He murmurs against Joel’s lips, hints of a smirk covered up by another kiss.

So Joel pulls back, rolls his hips and the feeling is pure bliss. He starts up a slow rhythm, relishing the feel cause this is probably his only chance for it. Gavin’s making half choked off sounds and his nails are biting hard into Joel’s back. Joel leans down, mouths at Gavin’s neck before biting hard to punctuate an extra hard thrust. He speeds up, slows down again, alternates between hard thrusts and sweet rolls of hips and every time Gavin gets louder and bucks against him cause he brushes that sweet spot, he grins like he’s won all the prizes.

Gavin’s shaking and begging by the time Joel reaches down to wrap a hand around his cock and he gets three sloppy tugs in before Gavin tenses up and cries out as he comes across his belly and chest. He buries his face in Gavin’s shoulder, continuing to stroke him until he’s whining and halfheartedly nudging his hand away cause he’s too sensitive. Letting Gavin relax into the bed, Joel takes a deep breath, planning his next move.

When Gavin goes to speak, probably to ask why Joel stopped, he sits up and pulls out to flip Gavin to his stomach. He grins at Gavin’s squeal of protest before Joel manhandles him up to his knees, swiping a thumb over Gavin’s sloppy and loose hole. Gavin mutters a low ‘oh’ before he gets it, shuffles his knees a little farther apart and tilts his hips to present himself better.

Humming appreciatively, Joel slides back in. He fucks Gavin slow and steady until he’s flushed and begging and achingly hard again. Keeps going slow until Gavin gets a hand under himself and starts fucking into his fist and back onto Joel’s cock at a much faster pace.

“Joel… Please…” He pants, squeezing around Joel and making the older moan.

“Yeah… Yeah, come on Gavin.” Joel pants against his shoulder and Gavin shudders, cries out again as he spills onto the sheets.

Joel curses, a long string of colorful words as he follows Gavin over the edge, hands tightening enough to leave bruises. If this is all they’ll get then at least he gave Gavin something to remember him by for a few extra days, he thinks idly and he pulls out carefully to flop onto the bed. He pulls off the condom, ties it and tosses it to the floor. He’ll worry about it later.

The room is silent save from their harsh breathing, broken a few minutes later by the shuffling of sheets. Joel stares at the ceiling, kind of wishing Gavin would stay the night, but he knows it’s probably best that he leaves. Easier this way too. So he’s pleasantly surprised when a solid weight presses flush against his side and the sheet is tugged up over them. Adjusting his arm to go around Gavin, he looks down to see him nuzzling Joel’s chest, face blissed out and relaxed, at least the bit Joel can see of it. He smiles, let’s himself drift off, content that even if he didn’t get his mark he at least met Gavin and had an amazing night.


	2. The Rise

Waking up is an ordeal. For a moment, Joel is tense when he hears another person in the room, relaxes again when he feels the arm slung around his waist and realized that Gavin stayed the night instead of sneaking off in the morning. He smiles and slips out of bed, careful not to wake Gavin and pulls on the first clothes he finds.

He makes his way down to the lobby, ducking around the chaos of people trying to leave and the hotel now being understaffed and manages to get two cups of coffee to take back with him. Gavin’s just waking up when he gets back, smiling sleepily at him as he sits up, sheet pooling in his lap. He takes the cup offered to him and they drink in silence for a few moments.

“You know, my flight doesn’t leave until tonight.” Gavin says, and Joel turns to find him smirking. Joel returns the smirk with a predatory grin and stalks towards Gavin.

The coffee gets quickly forgotten, long gone cold when Gavin picks his cup back up a while later to take a gulp while he wiggles back into his shorts. Joel slides to the edge of the bed, pulling Gavin close and burying his face in his stomach. Gavin complains about really not wanting to leave and having to go back to cold and rainy weather. Joel counters that he can’t wait to leave the weather behind, he hates the heat here. They playfully banter about the weather back home before they realize that they’re both arguing about NYC.

 The realization that they live in the same city makes Joel grin, maybe this doesn’t have to just be one day. He says as much to Gavin, who looks momentarily perplexed before he’s beaming and nodding his head enthusiastically. Joel pulls him into his lap, exchanging lazy kisses until Gavin pulls away with an apologetic look.

“Okay, I’ve really got to go. I can’t miss my flight.” He says, stealing a few more kisses before reluctantly standing up.

Gavin gives him his number, makes him promise to call then Joel walks him to the door.

He kisses Gavin soundly one last time. “I’ll see you later.” He kisses Gavin’s forehead before letting him leave finally.

—

Joel’s flight leaves the next day and when he lands, he goes straight to the office. Burnie and Gus are still there when he arrives and Burnie smirks when he sees him.

“You know the job was to kill someone not bone some Puerto Rican dude.”

Joel scowls. “That’s not what happened.”

Burnie laughs, gestures to his own neck. “Your hickeys state otherwise.”

Joel slaps a hand on his neck, covering up the worst of the marks and scowls more. “The mark was already dead when I got there.”

“So that means you hook up with a native?” Gus questions, finally looking up from his computer.

Huffing, Joel plops down in his desk chair, booting up his computer. “He wasn’t a native. He uh… He’s from here actually. Was on vacation.”

Gus raises his eyebrows. “Are you planning on seeing him again?”

Joel shrugs. “Dunno. Maybe? What’s it matter to you guys?”

Burnie raises his hands in a placating gesture. “We don’t mean anything bad by it, just, you know it can be difficult to keep a relationship with someone who doesn’t know what you do.”

Joel works on finishing his report on this job, ignores both Burnie and Gus and they’re gracious enough to drop it when it’s clear Joel doesn’t want to hear it.

—

He waits a week to call Gavin to ask him on a date and the other man sounds so relieved that he finally called that Joel feels a little bad waiting so long. He apologizes profusely, stating that he got swamped at work. They agree to meet at Central Park and find somewhere to eat together from there.

Gavin shows up 20 minutes late looking incredibly sheepish and rubbing the back of his neck as he explains that he might have gotten a little mixed up and went to the wrong place. Joel stares for a minute before he bursts into laughter causing Gavin to pout.

“I don’t see what’s so funny.”

Joel wipes his eyes, waves a hand around. “It’s just; it’s so like how we met. When you lied and said you got the bars mixed up.” He dissolves into laughter again.

Gavin thinks about it for a minute before he starts snickering too. When the fits of laughter pass, they decide to walk the edge of the park, looking for something to catch their eye. They stumble upon a hole in the wall pizza joint and decide to stop there.

It’s slightly awkward after they’re seated and waiting for their food. But Gavin tells him about how he’s a camera man for a local TV show and starts to open up about his job and his love of cameras and particularly slow motion things. Joel laughs and tries to engage best he can when he has no real idea what Gavin is even talking about.

Joel tells him he works as a financial adviser, figuring he knows enough about the market from his, admittedly a little intense, interest in it is more than enough to cover his ass and make Gavin believe that’s what he actually does as opposed to killing people for a living. Gavin nods, tells him that sounds really awesome and when Joel goes a little more into finances, Gavin gets a look like he’s trying to understand but just doesn’t quiet comprehend it. That works for Joel, Gavin not having a good grasp on what he does means he won’t question anything.

After that, conversation flows easily. When the food arrives, they pause long enough to start eating before they start talking again. Gavin manages to drip pizza sauce on his shirt and Joel knocks a full cup of soda into his lap. They laugh even more about it and when they’re done eating, they argue over who gets to pay. In the end Joel does, stating that he’s the one who asked so he should pay and that Gavin can pay next time.

The promise of a next time makes Gavin’s face light up and Joel grins with him as they set back out into the park and start to wonder aimlessly around. Their hands bump occasionally until Gavin finally reaches around to thread their fingers together. They walk the park until the sun is low in the sky and they finally part ways with a chaste kiss. Burnie gives him an unhappy look when he comes to work the next day with a grin still on his face.

—

They try to go out a few times a week, but Joel sometimes has a hit that’ll take a few days or Gavin has late filming to do. They make it up with weekends spent together; time spent lazing around on the couch and watching movies or playing games, getting distracted when Joel tries to cheat by biting Gavin’s neck or just sliding off the couch to suck his dick when he’s losing too badly. Or just spending the whole day in bed, only getting out for food or the bathroom. Now most of their sheets have permanent pizza and takeout stains that they can’t get out. And when they make new ones they laugh themselves to tears.

A chilly day a few weeks after their first date, they go to Coney Island and Gavin wins a giant stuffed rabbit. He gives it a contemplative look before he shoves it at Joel and tells him its name is Wuggles and that it’s now his. Joel gives Gavin a small smile and Wuggles now sits proudly on his bedside table.

—

On another occasion, a quiet Sunday laying in Joel’s bed and waiting for the delivery guy, Joel talks about Burnie.

“You know, he thinks I made you up or something.” Joel snorts.

Gavin pushes up on his elbow, looks down at Joel and laughs. “Why would he think I’m made up?”

“Cause apparently the way I talk about you makes you seem completely unrealistic and far too perfect. And really, the way he talks about Ashley is way worse. That man practically worships the ground she walks on.”

Gavin’s mouth is a small ‘o’ and Joel gives a confused look before he realizes just what he said. He flushes. “I mean, like, I don’t really talk about you _that_ much or anything, or, fuck, I mean… Um…”

“You think I’m perfect?” Gavin asks, slightly awed.

Joel’s cheeks turn darker and he looks away. “Well, I mean… You’re really amazing and stuff.”

Gavin chuckles, ducks down for a kiss. “Why don’t you invite Burnie and your friends over to Geoff’s for BBQ and drinks and you can show them your perfect boyfriend.”

Joel looks surprised. “Really?”

Gavin laughs again. “Why wouldn’t I want you to meet my friends?”

“I don’t know… But yeah, yes. That sounds good.” Joel grins, gets a hand on the back of Gavin’s neck and pulls him down for a deep kiss.

—

The BBQ is stiff at first. Both groups standing on opposite sides of the yard like kids at a middle school dance and are split guys and girls. Huffing, Gavin stomps over to Joel, drags him back over to his friends and introduces them all.

Joel gives a little awkward wave and the guy with a thick red beard – Jack, he recalls Gavin calling him - steps forward and offers Joel a beer. He takes it gratefully, down half of it in one go and Jack gives him an easy laugh and that breaks the ice. Joel and Jack start talking, Adam joining them after a beat, Burnie migrates to the grill and helps Geoff. Gus sits with Ryan talking computers, and Barbara sits with Michael and Ray. After a few minutes, Gavin kisses Joel’s cheek before he moves to sit with Michael.

The rest of the night goes smoothly, Geoff and Burnie call when the food’s done and everyone eats and drinks their fill before they all go inside to play games, Geoff forcing everyone to play at least one round of Peggle.

When Gavin and Joel get back to Gavin’s that night, he beams brightly. “Told you it’d be top.”

Joel chuckles, wraps an arm around Gavin’s waist and pulls him in for a quick kiss. “Yeah, you were right. It was a pretty good idea.”

The next morning, Gavin nudges Joel awake, mug of coffee waiting on the night stand. Joel grumbles something about being too old for this and makes Gavin laugh. He picks up the mug, inhaling the amazing smell of it and sighs contentedly.

“Mmm, I love you.”

Gavin grins, ducking his head down to cover his blush, it’s not that it hasn’t been said before. But they haven’t said it too often yet and it never fails to make Gavin flush when he hears it from Joel. He looks back up after a pause. “We should move in together.”

Joel pauses, mug still raised to his lips. “Really? Are you sure?”

Gavin thinks for a moment before nodding. “Definitely.”

—

The excitement of getting a house together is short lived. Gavin has very few things he really needs in a house, and most he can be flexible about. Joel on the other hand, has a checklist of all the things he needs and refuses to budge on any of the details for them. His need for the house to be perfect would’ve been kind of cute and endearing if they hadn’t already gone through at least 40 that Joel had deemed unacceptable for the absolute worst reasons.

Gavin’s standing the bedroom of yet another house while Joel does his rounds with the list. The bedroom is perfect; big, but not overly so, and spacious with a wall of windows and a set of French doors that lead out to a modest little balcony. He’s sort of fallen in love with this house, the kitchen is a great size with a sunny little breakfast nook that would be perfect for reading or lounging with tea while the sun rises. And he can already picture nights spent in the living room playing games or watching movies together. He’s pulled out of his musing by Joel entering the room, staring down at his list.

“No, this one…” He trails off when he glances up and catches sight of Gavin’s crushed look before it’s pulled back into a more neutral expression. Joel swallows and tosses the list to the side. “No this one is the last stop. It’s perfect.”

Gavin gapes a little then a huge smile spreads across his face and he bounds over to Joel. He flings his arms around Joel’s neck, wraps his legs around his waist and laughs giddily. “We have a house.” He says, awed and ecstatic.

Joel smiles, holding Gavin tightly and pressing a kiss to the side of his head. He can deal with a few imperfections if it makes Gavin this happy.

—

Living together, at first, is a test of patience. There’s a lot of stepping on each other’s toes as they learn each other’s routines and adjust their own. Joel sometimes has to leave for marks but he tells Gavin that he has to meet with a client that doesn’t live in town. And Gavin’s always fine with it, tells him he can handle entertaining himself for a few days. Though Joel working doesn’t seem to deter him from sending Joel dirty texts and pictures while he’s working. He learned the hard way that he shouldn’t check his phone until his job was done.

He pays Gavin back though when he leaves for night shoots or filming on a far away location by calling him in the middle of jerking off when his voice is breathy and rough. Sex when one of them is back from a trip is always frantic; they’ve learned to keep lube stashed in the drawer of the table in the front hall.

And sex when Joel comes straight home from a job nearby, when he pounces the second he sees Gavin, is perfect. Still high on adrenaline as he pins Gavin wherever he happens to be, makes him beg and writhe and whine for Joel to fuck him already. Sometimes Gavin comes home from work, grabs Joel by the tie or collar of his shirt and drags him up to the bedroom and rides him until they’re both panting and shaking.

After a few weeks, they’ve gotten into a rhythm and move around each other with an easy fluid grace.  Joel’s learned to make noise when he moves through the house, though sometimes he forgets and ends up scaring the shit out of Gavin. They’ve lost quite a few plates and cups that way. Gavin though, he always makes noise, drumming his fingers along the wall or humming as he walks.

Joel checks his weapons daily, making sure they’re always still hidden, not that they’re easy to find. He may have spent the time during one of Gavin’s trips away modding the house to hold his stashes of guns and knives and fake passports and IDs.

—

Joel’s on a mission, creeping along darken corridors when Burnie voice crackles through his ear piece.

“So, you and Gavin have been together for over a year, how are you guys doing? Also take the next left.”

Joel huffs, presses against the corner of where he needs to turn and peeks around, checking to make sure it’s clear. When there’s no signs of life, he slips around, gun raised in case trouble comes up. “Burnie, is this really the time to do this?”

“I’m just saying, this is the longest relationship I can ever remember you having. Seems like you’re really into him.”

Joel snaps the neck of a bodyguard, lowers the corpse to the ground and continues down the hallway. “Still not the time to talk about this, Burns. I’m working.”

“And so am I.” Burnie replies flippantly as Joel drops another goon. “Doesn’t mean we can’t have a conversation about your love life. People talk while working all the time. And you need to take the next right and be careful, it’s more guarded.”

Joel rolls his eyes, flips off the next camera he passes and stifles a snicker at Burnie’s yell of indignation. “Fine. Yes, Burnie, me and Gavin have been dating for a while. What’s it matter?”

“What are you gonna do?”

“Bout what?” Joel slows down, frowning.

“Well, I mean, what if he finds out? You know, about what you do or something?”

“He _won’t_ find out.” He shots back vehemently, shooting another guy in the head. “What is your deal with this?”

Burnie sighs and apologizes for bringing this particular topic up again; they stay silent aside from directions about the mission.

—

The next day Joel goes to the office to find a coffee and doughnuts on his desk. He turns to face Burnie and he gives Joel a small sheepish smile. Joel smiles back and thanks him.

“I am sorry. I know you love him and really care for him. I just don’t want you to end up hurt.”

Joel sits down, sipping his coffee thoughtfully. “I get it. But that won’t happen. We really do care about each other.”

—

Joel ends up spending the next week shopping for the perfect ring. Gavin asks while they’re cooking, a few days after Joel started looking, if he’s okay and Joel waves him off telling him there are a few clients who are on their asses at the office cause some stocks aren’t doing so hot.

Gavin blows him in the kitchen to make him feel better. They end up having to order take out because dinner ended up a little burned. It makes Joel fall a little more in love with him.

At the end of the week, Joel’s walking to lunch when a flash catches his eye in a store window. He pauses to inspect it and it feels like all the wind has been knocked out of him. It’s the perfect ring for Gavin. He goes in, asks if it they do engravings. When they day they do, he tells them which ring he wants and what he wants it to say.

Two days later he picks up the ring, it’s a black tungsten band with a dark green inlay with the words ‘I’d never abandon you’ written on the inside, a silly play off one of the first things Gavin ever said to him. He takes it home, grateful that Gavin’s not home yet. He hides the box in one of his most secure stashes and burns the bag in the grill in the backyard to ensure the evidence won’t be discovered.

He sits on the ring for another two weeks, Gavin shooting him increasingly worried looks as Joel’s jitteriness increases. Finally Joel drags him out to the pizza place that they had their first date at and that’s become one of their favorite places in town. Gavin’s smile seems a little forced through dinner and Joel picks apart multiple napkins.

Finally, he manages to drum up enough courage, knocks his cup purposely into his lap and Gavin covers some laughter behind his hand. “You really don’t have much luck at this place, huh?”

Joel grins, slips out of the booth and drops to one knee and pulling the ring box out. “Actually, I’m pretty sure I have the best luck here.”

Gavin’s jaw drops and he looks from the mess of soda on the table to Joel to the ring. “You… You set this up to be like our first date to ask me to marry you?”

Joel swallows and starts to look a little nervous. “Um… yeah, I uh… Thought it was a good idea…”

Gavin’s pushing out of the booth before Joel is finished and throws his arms around Joel’s neck. “God I thought you were about to dump me. Yes, fucking Christ yes.” He laughs.

Joel lets out a sign of relief, hugs Gavin back tightly and murmurs an apology for making him worrying like that.

“This was perfect Joel.” Gavin grins, leaning back and holding his hand out for Joel to slip the ring on. He presses a kiss to Gavin’s hand above the ring and tugs him to his feet.

“Come on, let’s go celebrate properly.” Gavin shoots him a questioning look as they walk away from the table and Joel smirks back. “I paid early, so we could leave right away if you said yes.”

—

They have a small simple ceremony a few months later in their backyard with mostly just their friends and neighbors. Gavin says his parents can’t make it because of distance. Joel hires two people to fake being his parents because his dad is dead and there’s no way his mom could make the trip for the wedding. But he does call her and tell her the news. She’s thrilled and makes Joel promise to send her pictures.

Geoff gives Gavin away and Gavin got Joel a ring that matches his aside from his being gold inlay to Gavin’s green. When Gavin puts it on he catches sight of some writing on the inside but can’t read it till the reception when they get a moment to catch their breath. He grins as he reads the simple inscription ‘I’ll always find you’ and is glad he’s not the only sappy one.

—

Marriage isn’t too much of an adjustment, aside from all the paperwork to change Gavin’s last name to Smith. Joel wishes Gavin could have his actual last name but there’s no way to tell Gavin without coming clean about everything else. But that’s a whole thing that he just doesn’t want to deal with.

And that’s when their luck starts to run dry.


	3. The Fall

Then, well then after a few years together, things turn sour. Joel’s not sure when it happened or really how. Whether it was one of the times Joel came home too late from hanging out with Adam and Jack again or Gavin falls asleep at Michael’s or vice versa without letting Joel know. Or maybe it was one of the times Joel forgot their anniversary or that Gavin forgot a birthday or important party. Or maybe they were just doomed from the start and they were too heart eyed and stupid over each other to notice things going bad until it was too late to fix.

Now dinners are filled with silence and they hardly cook together anymore, if they end up cooking at all. Movie and game nights have stopped completely and if they do play a game, Joel doesn’t try to distract Gavin anymore if he starts losing, instead getting frustrated and fed up before storming off to his office.

Their friends have noticed the change too. But Joel doesn’t want to talk about it, doesn’t even know how he’d begin to try. So when Burnie asks, he snaps at him that he has a fucking job and that’s what he should be doing, not talking about people’s personal lives. He doesn’t ask again. Jack tries once when he’s out with him and Adam. Joel gets up from the table and goes to the bar, takes 5 shots in quick secession before coming back to the table. It doesn’t get brought up from him again either.

And Joel’s positive that Gavin’s friends have done the same, judging by the worried looks Barbara will send him during the day. She’d probably talked to Michael or Ray. She at least has the courtesy not to ask Joel what’s going on. Gus hasn’t made any comments about it, though when things first soured, he once caught Gus with an I-knew-it-would-go-bad look when he was talking to Burnie. One that quickly changed when he caught site of Joel and acted like nothing just happened, probably thinks Joel didn’t even see. That look made him want to punch him. Just a little to get back at him for that smug look.

Sex is one of the biggest changes, isn’t something they enjoy anymore and that’s if they even have it. They don’t get distracted cooking dinner or go for one another after work. Weekends are spent away from the house and each other rather than movie marathon Saturdays and lazy Sundays spent not getting out of bed. It’s become little more than two people getting off in the same vicinity, no passion or love or caring.

There’s no teasing touches or playful banter. Joel starts finding reasons to stay later at work, taking extra jobs or doing maintenance on his weapons and offering to do others’ as well. Gavin stays late too, takes more of the away filming jobs than he did before.

The house has lost its warmth; would look abandoned if not for the lights that are sometimes on and the cars occasionally in the driveway. Joel wishes he could pinpoint when they stopped smiling at each other or laughing when Joel will knock a glass into his lap when they’re on a date just to see the fondness take over Gavin’s features when he laughs and tells Joel that he’s the biggest sap. Wishes he could fix their crumbling marriage, but how can he ask what’s wrong when he’s terrified that Gavin is just too nice to tell him he’s done with them and their house and life, that he wants to do something else, find someone new who gets him better.

So he stays quiet, let’s the oppressive silence surround them. He throws himself into work, is ruthless and quick, better than he’s been in a long time. Let’s the dinners at home be what they are, ignores the pit in his stomach anytime he comes home late and Gavin’s not even there. Or worse, he is and will either leave to a different room or give Joel quiet one word answers without even glancing at him.

Gavin gets mad when Joel lets him leave the room without protesting. Never says anything but will get a look in his eye like he was hoping for something different. And Joel’s started to lose the ability to tell if Gavin’s mad at him for not stopping him or if he’s mad at himself for hoping for a different outcome. That thought twists like a knife in his gut. Sometimes he tries to speak out, to call Gavin back, to ask him to stay and cook dinner with him. But anytime he tries the words dry up in his throat.

So Joel starts trying to be a little more of a jerk. Because as bad as it is, at least Gavin’s pissed at him and not himself. Joel can take the anger and the frustration when Gavin finds it in himself to speak more than a few words to Joel. When he gets so frustrated over something that he yells and curses and sometimes punches Joel’s arm. He can take the beating, if it saves Gavin beating himself up. Because even if this isn’t as good as it was, even if it feels like he’s drowning, at least he still has Gavin.

Then one night, eating dinner out of take out containers in the kitchen, Gavin asks about going to therapy. Joel looks up, blinking a few times. He wonders when Gavin’s breaking point was, how long he’d wanted to ask that. If even therapy could help them out of this hole they dug themselves into. Judging by Gavin’s look, it seems like he’s expecting Joel to say no or something else that would be just as bad. But Joel wonders if maybe this is the step they need. If some person from the outside could maybe help them back to what they had built or at least rebuild something better.

So he swallows his bite and nods. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

The therapist’s name is Dr. Emily, she has a kind smile and a gentle voice. It grates on Joel’s nerves. She starts by telling them this is a safe space and that nothing will leave this room. She asks how long they’ve been together and Joel immediately tells her it’s been 4 and a half years followed by Gavin snorting bitterly.

“It’s been 6.”

Joel rolls his eyes and Emily clears her throat to get their attention. Asks why they think different numbers and Gavin says because Joel doesn’t pay attention, that he doesn’t even remember their anniversary so why would he remember how long they’ve been together. She listens attentively and when Joel tries to interrupt, she calmly tells him to let Gavin finish speaking then he can say his piece.

She nods when Gavin’s done and turns to Joel with an expectant look. Joel says their numbers different cause Gavin keeps counting all of their time dating in with that and that Joel only counts how long they’ve been married, like a normal person. Emily tells him to not be insulting and Joel holds back a frown. He continues instead, telling her that he forgot one anniversary because he got overloaded at work. Accuses Gavin of being petty because Joel’s made the other anniversaries amazing.

Emily shushes them both when Gavin starts to retort, something bitter and mean clearly on the tip of his tongue. They both cross their arms and look away while she takes a moment to make a few notes. When she looks back up, she asks what they’re hoping to gain from all this.

Joel sits perplexed, unsure how to answer that. When he sneaks a look at Gavin, he sees he looks to be in the same boat. How do you tell a stranger that you feel like you don’t know the person you married anymore, that they’re not the same. That going to bed at night feels like there’s a chasm the size of the Grand Canyon between them even though Joel could physically reach out and touch Gavin. How he wants the man he met in Puerto Rico back, the one who lied to the cops for a complete stranger then took the risk of going back to his room when someone important had just been murdered across the street.

Gavin breaks the silence though, speaks in a quiet voice that breaks Joel’s heart a little more. “I don’t know. Just… something. Anything.”

When she turns to look at him, waiting for an answer, Joel looks down at his lap guiltily. She nods like that says enough and writes a little more. She asks them how their sex life is. Joel chews his lip. Doesn’t know how he could accurately convey anything about that. Gavin doesn’t speak either, picks idly at the sleeve of his hoodie. She nods and they move on.

That night Joel lies awake long after Gavin’s breathing has evened out. He thinks about the session, what she’d asked. Thinks if he’d said more than he did then maybe it would’ve gone better. He glances over at Gavin’s sleeping form, wishes it wouldn’t feel so awkward to just reach over and wrap around Gavin like he use to. To freely feel Gavin’s skin without it feeling like some obligation that they have to do. Wishes that he wasn’t so envious of Gavin being able to sleep peacefully while Joel’s still awake because his mind won’t stop turning over possibilities.

The sun is starting to rise, painting the sky in soft shades of purples and pinks, when Joel finally slips into a fitful sleep. When he wakes a few hours later, Gavin’s already long gone. Pushing himself up, Joel sighs, resigns himself to another day, another week, of the same old avoidance. Apparently therapy was a waste of money.


	4. The Discovery

Joel’s really not sure how a simple job blew up in his face so spectacularly. He wishes he knew what the fuck happened. It was a fairly mission when he had gone over the provided information. Similar to tons of others he’s done in the past.

It was a penthouse kill, moderate level of guards and a laughable security system (at least for Joel). Easy enough to take a service elevator to the roof and take either a backdoor in or repel through a window, get the guy and get out before anyone’s the wiser. Fairly routine, Joel could’ve done it on autopilot. Essentially had been doing that before the top floor of the penthouse blew up.

And that had just led everything to chaos. He knew the top of the three level apartment had been deserted, or at the very least only held a few off duty guards. So it was a diversion, a way to block the exit up, forcing the guards to hustle their charge to the lower level to escape. Joel cursed, moving quickly through the thick dust, thankful for the mask covering the bottom half of his face. He moved swiftly through the halls, dodging the few dazed guards, far too concerned with being able to breathe to realize when he slipped by.

He made it to the front door, shouldering it open and eyes zeroing in on the elevator doors. Or what should’ve been the elevator doors if they weren’t a smoking hole in the wall now. Joel glanced around the deserted hall before jogging over to the ruined door and glancing around the elevator shaft. More explosives then, he thought, turning to look at the door to the stairwell. It was opened a few inches, rubble and debris blocking it from opening further.

Clenching his jaw, Joel quickly made his way back inside, moving soundlessly through the first floor to the panic room. He raised his gun, nudged the door open and did a quick sweep of the interior. It was quiet and as Joel stepped into the room the stench of blood was heavy in the air. Joel cursed again, moving quickly to the corner that housed the door to the panic room, stopping a few feet short. Blood seeped from the cracked door, spreading in a slow puddle.

Joel stepped carefully around it, peaking into the room to confirm where the blood came from and sure enough, it was from his target. Joel’s hand tightened around the grip of his gun before he turned back, leaving the room.

Halfway down the hallway, he paused, cocking his head to the side. There was water running in one of the bathrooms . He frowned, the upper levels were still in chaos, no one would be in the bathroom right now, let alone washing their hands. He clenched his jaw, quickly doubling back and heading for the bathroom, realizing that the only person who’d be call would be the one who caused the chaos in the first place.

He stayed as quiet as he could but a few floorboards weakened by the blasts creaked when he was a few feet outside the bathroom. He heard some muffled swearing and shuffling. The water shut off abruptly and Joel gave up the pretense of stealth and shoved the door open. The sink was still splattered with a few drops of pinkish blood.

The room was empty but the window sat open and Joel moved over to it. There’s no way anyone jumped, but as he scanned along the building he saw a grappling hook hung on the balcony railing nearby, rope dropping down and stopping at another balcony a few floors down.

“Son of a bitch.” Joel muttered, punching the windowsill.

He turned, picking his way carefully through the building and back outside.  He returned to the office, where Burnie was waiting, looking as frustrated as Joel felt.

“Please tell me you have something.” Joel begged, sitting heavily in the chair beside Burnie.

Burnie shook his head. “Not at the moment, no. I think I might need Gus to help. The feed signal got really scrambled a few minutes before those charges went. I mean, I’ve got everything, but the code’s been messed up. Gus is better at this than me. But we should have it by morning. Go home and get some sleep.”

Joel shook his head. “I’m gonna catch a few here. Wake me up when you and Gus get this figured out. I want to know who that was.” With that he turns and heads to the break room, collapsing on the couch and drifting in and out of sleep.

Burnie shakes him awake a few hours later. “We salvaged enough of the files to get some video of the dude. No face, but I guess it’s something.”

Joel blinks a few times and nods, pushing himself up and off the couch. “Show me.”

Burnie gives him a look but doesn’t say anything, just shrugs and waves for him to follow. He heads to one of the control rooms, a few others milling about and walks over to one of the bigger screens, where the video of the penthouse panic room sits paused. Burnie slides over some so Joel can step up to the screen.

“There’s nothing new you’ll find. We checked it. The guy keeps his face hidden well from the cameras.” Burnie says tiredly, watching Joel in his periphery.

Joel shrugs, unperturbed. “Never know.” He says as he taps the screen to start the video.

The feed is a little fuzzy as it starts, clearing a bit then going fuzzy again, the files were clearly corrupted badly. Joel taps his fingers against his arm, waiting as a few moments later a hooded figure appears and moves to the panic room door’s control panel. He plugs something in and starts typing on a small device. Joel leans closer, trying to get a better look at his hands and what the guy’s doing but the guy shifts and his body ends up blocking the view.

The guy twitches, flails to the side a moment before a bullet hits the wall where he’s been standing. He pulls a gun out and disappears off screen, coming back a few minutes later and pulling the device from the wall and the door opens.

Joel’s hand hits the screen hard, scrambling to rewind the video to a few seconds before guards shot at the guy. He watches with a sinking feeling in his gut as the flail happens again, far too familiar. He’s been the cause of a similar reaction more times than he can count or remember. And as he leans closer, yeah, that hoodie seems familiar too. Almost exactly like the one he bought Gavin almost two years ago on a trip when Gavin had forgotten his own and was whining about freezing.

Swallowing thickly, he rewinds the video again, mind filling in what the camera couldn’t capture. The humming Gavin is sure to be doing as he works, chewing his lip as he concentrates on typing, the startled noise he makes when he flails and dodges the bullet. Joel stares at the screen, no, he has to be wrong. There’s no way this is possible.

“Shut it down.” He says quietly.

Burnie looks startled. “What…”

“I said shut is down!” Joel snaps, glares at Burnie and spins on his heel to leave, shooting more glares to anyone who gets too close. He needs to get home. He needs to figure this out.

——————

Joel sits on the couch, staring at his phone before letting out a ragged breath and finally picking it up. He dials the number by heart and waits for it to pick up.

Five rings later, Gavin finally answers. “Hello?”

Joel winces, the neutral tone Gavin uses stings. “Hey, Gav. Hope I’m not interrupting work or anything.”

“No. I’m not busy right now.”

Joel chews his lip and the silence stretches.

Gave sighs. “Did you need anything?”

“Oh, uh, I just wanted to see if you would be home for dinner. I was gonna cook.”

Gavin’s quiet for a beat before he sighs again. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be home.”

“Alright, cool. 7?”

“Yup.” And he hangs up.

Joel pulls the phone away from his ear, stares at the blank screen and wonders again how things got so bad. So wrong.

Joel heaves himself off the couch, cleans the house and changes before he starts on dinner. He makes Gavin’s favorites, has everything on the table by the time Gavin walks in the door.

Gavin blinks a few times at the spread and his corner of his mouth twitches with a suppressed smile. He sits across from Joel and they eat in silence. When Joel starts to clear the table, Gavin offers to help with the dishes.

Joel washes while Gavin dries and puts them away. The nagging feeling in Joel’s stomach gets to him and he has to know if his assumption is right. So he slips a little on handing Gavin a plate, letting it slide out of his hand before Gavin has a grip on it. He waits for the sound of shattering glass that he’s use to when Gavin fumbles a plate; they’ve lost plenty of dishes because it slipped out of Gavin’s grip. But it never comes; Gavin caught it and is staring intently at it. He slowly looks up at Joel, eyes wide with panic.

Joel’s hand twitches and Gavin quickly puts space between them, plate still clutched tightly. He glances at it before tossing it to the counter with a loud clatter.

“Gavin…” He says slowly and Gavin turns and bolts.

Joel curses, pulls his gun out his waistband and runs after Gavin. The front door is wide open and Gavin is slamming the door closed to his car.

For a few seconds, Joel doesn’t think, reacts on instinct and pulls the gun up and shoots.

Gavin stares at him with a horrified look that Joel is positive matches his own. Then Gavin’s face shuts down and he peels out of the driveway. Joel watches him leave, stunned. He curses again, punches the doorframe hard before pressing his fist to his forehead. Cause they didn’t have enough problems before, why not add shooting at him to the list.

——

Joel spends the next two days in a mostly drunken stupor. Wondering how he’d missed something this big and if Gavin’ll ever come back. Burnie shows up bright and early on the third day and Joel glares blearily at him when he shoulders past.

“What are you doing here?” He catches movement in the front yard and turns to see a whole team of people moving between a few vans. Joel turns back to Burnie. “What the hell is this?”

“We’re gonna do a sweep.” He says and starts directing the crew.

Joel watches numbly as they pull out guns and knives and cash and fake identification that aren’t his. He pushes off the wall and moves upstairs. He freezes when he sees someone cut Wuggles down the middle and rip the stuffing out. Blinking away the stinging in his eyes, he continues past quickly, heading to the bedroom. Burnie’s pulling a large hunting knife out from under Gavin’s side of the bed and two agents are standing at the tv watching something. It’s his wedding video. Joel clenches his jaw and Burnie looks up and notices him. Setting the knife down, he moves around and speaks quietly to the agents. They nod and leave, giving Joel pitying looks as the pass.

Joel waits a few moments before leveling Burnie with a blank look. “Why are you doing this?”

Burnie spreads his hands at his sides. “You’re married to a spy. A Hunter actually. We’re just trying to figure out what his angle was.”

Joel thinks for a bit before nodding tightly. He moves and packs a bag mechanically. Shouldering it, he turns back to Burnie and holds his hand out. “I’m staying at yours. Give me your keys.”

Burnie looks like he wants to say something but just gives a small nod and hands the keys over. Joel leaves without looking at anything else in the house.

——

Joel’s decision to talk to Gavin before he filed anything seemed a lot smarter in theory. In practice, well sitting in a vent at Hunter HQ taunting his husband was probably the dumbest thing he’s ever done. But he can’t help the grin on his face when Gavin trades jokes and barbs with him like they use to when they would stay up late and play Halo.

It was going well till one of the other’s, Joel’s pretty sure it was Geoff, he was always most protective of Gavin, threw a smoke bomb and Joel had to fumble to pull his shirt up over his nose and mouth. He pushes out the grate covering the vent and moves around the smoke. The room’s almost deserted now, windows broken and zip lines leading out to the other building.

Gavin’s standing in the last window and he catches sight of Joel coming clear of the smoke, too many emotions flickering across his face for Joel to pick out. Someone shouts at Gavin to hurry up and he looks towards them before looking back to Joel. He smirks and winks before he takes off down the line.

Joel rushes over to the window, watching Gavin land on the ledge of the building opposite and fumble to gain his balance. He turns back to beam at Joel.

Joel grins back, leaning out the window slightly to shout, “Chicken shit!”

“Pussy!” Gavin yells back, laughing as he hops off the ledge to the roof and trotting after his group.


	5. The Turning Point

A few days after the break in incident, Joel manages to track Gavin down to, of all places, their favorite pizza place. Joel slides into the booth, sitting across from him. “Hey, Gav.”

Gavin glares at him. “What do you think you’re doing here?”

“Having dinner with my husband at our favorite pizza place.” He says with a grin that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“What makes you think I want to have dinner with you?” Joel opens his mouth to respond but Gavin shakes his head, cutting a hand through the air to stop him. “No, I don’t wanna hear it from you, you stupid asshole. You have no right to talk to me after what you did.” He leans closer, hands going under the table and drops his voice to a low hiss. “You took my guns. You took my money. You fucking cut up Wuggles!”

With that, he pushes out of the booth. “Screw you.” He gives malicious smile and heads towards the bathrooms.

A few minutes later people run out, yelling about a guy with a gun. He goes to slide out, to follow the others out but his arm stops him. He looks under the table and sees what Gavin had been doing with his hands. His wrist is zip tied to the table support and two more are woven around his watch. Joel groans and drops his head to the table. He looks back towards the kitchen.

“Fucking really Gavin?! My watch?!”

He’s pretty sure he can hear laughter. Sighing, he fumbles to undo the watch, letting it slip off so he can rip the zip tie off his wrist. After a few tugs, his wrist comes free, fine aside from a little blood. He stares at his watch, trying to figure out how to free it too when he hears ticking.

“Fucking son of a bitch.”

He shoves out of the booth, scrambling out of the restaurant seconds before the bomb goes off. Panting, he watches the flames lick at the inside.

“Well guess that’s a fucking sign.”

Resigned, he turns and heads back to his car. He sits there for a few minutes, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel, trying to figure out where to go. He thinks about what Gavin said and realizes exactly where he needs to go. The whole drive, he can’t help but feel like a man walking to the gallows.

——

The house is quiet and dark when he gets there; cleaned up since Burnie drug a team through here. Joel’s got his gun out, but he’s only making half hearted attempts to check the rooms as he goes through them.

When the first shot goes by him as he enters the dining room, he’s not all the surprised. He kicks one of the legs out on the table, knocking it over to use as cover, glad that he pushed so hard for a granite top.

Gavin’s gun runs out first and Joel’s thinking up a plan when he hears the telltale sounds of a grenade launcher firing. He swears and scrambles out of the room before it blows. Pressing himself to the wall, he listens as Gavin sets the gun down and waits a few beats.

“Still alive baby?” Gavin calls out mockingly and Joel turns the corner to the kitchen and fires till his clip is empty.

And if Joel missed every shot, well he’ll just blame it on Gavin was throwing dishes and knives while he was firing. He drops the gun, lunges for Gavin. He catches him, pins Gavin back against the counter and relishes the moan Gavin chokes back.

Gavin’s fist connects with his jaw and he staggers a step back. His fist catches him again and Joel shakes it off, landing a hard kick of his own. The fight feels like it drags on for hours, but Joel knows better. Would bet that the fist fight has probably lasted only 5 minutes if that. But he figures this is better. Harder to kill the man you love with restrained punches and kicks than with a gun.

Then Gavin hooks a foot around his ankle, trips him and he hits the ground hard. Gavin vaults over him and Joel manages to turn and grab the cuff of his jeans. Gavin stumbles, hitting the couch, flipping it and himself in the process. Joel pushes to his feet moving around the couch the same time Gavin gets up, new gun raised and pointed. Joel holds his hands up and Gavin’s eyes widen as he takes in a shuddering breath.

Joel takes a step toward him. “Can’t do it?”

Gavin takes a step back, shakes his head vigorously. “ _Don’t_.” He grits out, hands starting to tremble. “Come on.”

Joel takes another step, sure and calm. If Gavin wanted him dead, he’d be cooling on the floor already.

Gavin exhales heavily, blinking rapidly to try to dispel the tears that are already starting to fall. “ _Come on_.” And his voice cracks.

Knocking the gun from Gavin’s lax grip is easy. He keeps a hand on his wrist, runs the other up Gavin’s neck to his jaw and uses it to haul him in to slot their mouths together. Gavin makes a noise that’s a mix of a sob and a moan and clutches at Joel’s shirt, drags him in closer.

Joel pushes, shoves Gavin against the small table sitting along the wall, sending a cascade of junk to the floor. Gets his hands under Gavin’s thighs and pulls till Gavin wraps his legs around his waist and he shoves him further onto the table. He pulls at Gavin’s shirt and the buttons pop free and he trails wet kisses down Gavin’s neck to suck and bite at his pulse point. Gavin arches, shoves his hips hard against Joel’s and slams his head back against the mirror. The glass splinters but Gavin seems too lost to notice the blood trickle down the broken surface.

Gavin grips the bottom of Joel’s shirt, tugs until he gets the idea and pulls back enough from him to pull it off. Then he undoes Gavin’s pants and pulls them down to his thighs. Dropping to his knees, pulls them the rest of the way off and wastes no time in sucking Gavin in all the way to the root. Gavin groans and fists his hands in Joel’s hair as he starts to bob his head.

Joel fumbles with his own pants, pushing them down enough to get to his own erection. He gave himself a few slow strokes to take some of the ache away. He reached up and ripped out the drawer of the table, spilling the contents everywhere and searched blindly for the bottle of lube. Humming in triumph, he slicked his fingers up and traced one around Gavin’s rim.

The younger man bucked and moaned, letting out a sting of curses and pleas while Joel stretched him open slowly.

“Joel please… Need you in me now…” Gavin whined, nudging at Joel’s head.

Joel hummed, making no move to stop. He wanted to wreck Gavin, and with the way he was writhing on his fingers he was well on his way there. Gavin growled and shoved Joel a little harder till his fingers and mouth were off of him. Joel raised an eyebrow while Gavin took a few deep breaths. He slid off the table and turned around, planting one hand on it to lean on. Reaching back, he grabbed one of his ass cheeks, spreading himself for Joel. Joel’s throat went dry at the sight of Gavin’s slick and open hole. Gavin wiggled his hips a little.

“Come and get it J-Role.” He said teasingly, glancing over his shoulder.

Joel slicked himself up quickly, moving to stand behind the other man. He pressed a hand to the mirror, using the other to guide himself in. Gavin was hot and tight around him and god Joel had missed this. He groaned, wrapping an arm around Gavin’s waist as he starting moving.

Gavin moaned, letting go of his ass to wrap around his dick, jerking himself off with quick strokes. He came quickly, convulsing around Joel’s cock. Joel let out a harsh breath, getting in a few more stuttered thrust before coming too. He pressed his forehead to Gavin’s covered shoulder for a few minutes, listening to the breath together before picking his head up and glancing at them in the mirror. Gavin smirked at him.

“Shame it’s broken now.”

Later, after another round, they’re lying on the floor between the ruined kitchen and living room. Joel can’t help but feel that this helped. That they can move on and get better. He trails his fingers up Gavin’s spine and he shivers.

“So did you really have to throw the whole kitchen at me?”

Gavin makes an indignant squawk. “You shot at me!”

“You shot too.”

“You shot first.”

Joel snorts. “What am I, Han Solo now?”

Gavin laughs and stands. “I’m gonna see if there’s anything salvageable left in the kitchen.”

Joel hums. “I’m gonna enjoy the view.”

Gavin rolls his eyes and picks his way carefully through the kitchen. He comes away with a half full bottle of juice and a box of mini muffins. He displays them and beams.

“Breakfast is served.” He says as Joel pulls him back into his lap.

———

Gavin shifts further against the wall in the front hallway, picking at his food. “So our trip to Aspen?”

Joel looks over, raises an eyebrow as he sips at the juice. “What about it?”

“When you said you had to leave early for work?” Gavin raises an eyebrow.

Joel grins. “Yeah, Gaspard.”

Gavin throws his head back and laughs then snatches the juice away from Joel, wiggles his eyebrows when Joel tries to reach for it again. Joel retaliates by pushing him back against the floor and stealing the jug back while Gavin’s distracted with his mouth on his neck.

—-

“I can’t feel anything in these three fingers.” Gavin grins, wiggling three of his fingers.

Joel snorts and tugs the waistband of his underwear down a little, showing off a long horizontal scar. “Knife to the guts.”

“You told me you had to get surgery for a hernia!” Gavin flailed a hand out, whacking Joel’s arm.

Joel rolled his eyes, huffing. “Cause I was gonna tell my boyfriend that I got gutted on a job to kill someone?”

Gavin glares. “Shut up.”

Joel smirks, opens his mouth to say something; and gets cut off by Gavin pressing closer and giving him a hard kiss.

“I refuse to admit you’re right. So you shut up and kiss me, asshole.”

Joel grins against Gavin’s mouth, pressing him back down to the floor. He deepens the kiss, running his hands under Gavin’s shirt, though he’s pretty sure that it’s actually his shirt and Gavin just stole it.

He doesn’t register the sound of glass as danger until it’s followed by the thunk of something hitting the ground. He jerks back, scanning the area quickly, and sees the flash bang lying on the floor and his body switches to instinct. He hauls Gavin up before the man can even make a noise of protest and drags him down the hall.

They make it to the living room before it goes off and while there’s a ringing in his ears, Joel can still see perfectly. And that means he can clearly see the figures gathered in the backyard through the windows. All dressed in black and with guns pointed towards them.

Joel thinks Gavin said something but his ears are still ringing so he just goes with shoving Gavin down another hallway, away from the windows and guns. Gavin seems to get with the program, not needing Joel directing him where to go anymore and comes to a stop in Joel’s office.

Joel sets about pulling out guns while Gavin checks the windows. He hands one to Gavin and slings a full bag over his shoulder.

“Back’s bloody full of em but the side only has one guy.” Gavin pauses as they hear the sound of the front door splintering but he rushes to continue. “He hasn’t moved. We can take him out quick and jump the fence to the neighbors.”

Joel nods as Gavin opens the window and slips out quickly. He’s gone for a moment before he’s back gesturing for Joel to follow.

He makes his way out and they’re just over the fence when the shouts of the downed man start to go up. They exchanged a glance before taking off across the yard and jumping the next fence and cutting across to the back of the yard and through the bushes to the house behind.

Gavin checks the windows as they move to the front of the house. “Whoever’s here is upstairs. There’s a car in the garage. We can take it before they ever notice.”

Joel hands the bag to Gavin as they enter the garage and pops open the driver’s side door. Gavin opens the garage door and gets into the passenger side while Joel hotwires the car.

They get out of the neighborhood before Gavin taps Joel’s shoulder.

“Pretty sure we got company.”

Joel glances in the rearview mirror and sees that there are indeed two black SUVs gaining on them. He maneuvers through the traffic to get them on the freeway heading out of the city before the shooting breaks out.

Gavin crawls into the backseat and does a good job of taking the cars out though more always seem to take their place.

“So uh… In the interest of the honesty that we had going and everything, thought I should probably tell you that my last name? Yeah, not Smith. It’s Heyman.”

The gunfire in the car pauses for a moment before picking back up.

“I really don’t think now is a good time for this talk!”

“I was going to tell you earlier but then this happened!”

“Could you have been any less creative with Smith though?”

Joel snorts, slipping between two cars and managing to gain them some ground on there pursuers. “Yeah and like Free is really your last name.” There’s a long pause and Joel twists to give Gavin an incredulous look. “You used your real last name?!”

Gavin scowls and shoves Joel’s face forward again. “Eyes on the road. And yes. I did. Didn’t damn well think I was marrying another assassin. Why the hell would I lie.”

They lapse into silence until Joel deems that they finally shook off the tail and pulls off to a shady looking gas station. They sit for a while before Gavin speaks.

“We’re those even really your parents at the wedding?”

Joel winces. “No.” Gavin opens his mouth to say something but Joel holds a finger against it. “They were just actors. My dad’s dead. My mom lives a ways upstate and wouldn’t have been able to make it anyway. But I did tell her. I showed her pictures too. She said you looked lovely and that she was glad that I found someone to put up with me.” He huffs.

Gavin eyes him for a minute before nodding and giving him a small smile. “To be fair, you put up with me too. And uh, my family really couldn’t make it. England, ya know?”

Joel nods and gives Gavin a quick peck on the lips before straightening. “Guess there’s just one thing left to do then.”

Gavin tilts his head. “What’s that?”

“We’re going to see Burnie and see who the fuck has it out for us and we’re going to put an end to this.”


End file.
